Texans win at home over the Tigers, 62-56

STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texans’ Cortney Hill scored 27 points Saturday as the Texans handed East Central a 62-56 defeat in Stephenville.

Tarleton led by six at the half while each team scored 27 points in the second half with each team hitting only eight field goals in the second period. The Texan defense held the Tigers to their lowest point total of the season.

I thought we had good shots all night, but they just weren’t falling,” said Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman. “The only thing that saved us tonight was only seven turnovers and the fact that we outrebounded them. We held a great scoring team to 56 points. It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take a Lone Star Conference crossover win, and I am glad we found a way to win the game.”

The Texans outrebounded the Tigers 47-39 while the Texans shot just .319 from the field, including a .296-mark from the arc. Outside of Hill’s six-of-10 shooting from the arc, the rest of the team went two-of-17.

“Somebody has to step up in the game, and Cortney did a great job tonight,” Reisman said. “We are going to continue to get better. I thought our defense at times is getting better, and we I am happy to get one in the win column.”

Ian Adams put the visitors on the board first with a jumper just eight seconds into the contest before Cortney Hill tied the game 16 seconds later with a basket of his own. Cody Williams returned the lead to the Tigers at 16:17 and Marlin Cloudy had a tip-in after the Texans had missed six straight shots to tie the game at four with 15:39 remaining in the period.

A three at 12:34 by Williams made it 7-4 ECU, but Tyler Rushing nailed a three from the left side of the floor to tie the game at seven 21 seconds afterwards. Eric Williams then had the backend of a two-shot foul at 11:50 to give the Texans an 8-7 advantage.

Dontae Figgs then had a jumper before Jeremiah Wilson jumper made it 10-9 Texans. Adams then returned the lead to the visitors, but Wilson had a fastbreak layup after a feed by Rushing that put the Texans up 12-11 with 9:11 on the clock. The Texan junior was fouled, and he completed the old-fashioned three-point play. Rushing then hit a jumper for the Texans to make it 15-11.

Adams and Monquel Pegues traded jumpers before Justin Wilkerson had a three-point play the hard way to cut the lead to one, 17-16, with 6:53 left in the first half. Pegues then had back-to-back buckets to push the lead to five, but a three by Tyler Thetford made it 21-19 with 5:06 on the clock.

Tarleton’s Williams then got a tip-in on the return trip down the floor before Hill had another three to give the Texans a seven-point lead. Thetford then had two free throws for the Tigers before a Figgs jumper cut the lead to three. Hill and Thetford then traded threes before Hill made back-to-back shots from behind the arc to put Tarleton ahead by nine (35-26) with 25 ticks left on the clock. Cody Williams then had a three with 11 seconds left in the period to cut Tarleton’s halftime lead to six, 35-29.

The Texans, who held the Tigers to their second-lowest first half total of the season, started the game going two-of-12 in the first eight minutes of the contest.

Figgs got the first basket of the second half before Hill hit his fifth three of the night with 18:38 on the clock to give the Texans a seven-point lead. Eric Williams then had an old-fashioned three-point play 12 seconds later to put Tarleton ahead by 10 before Wilkerson had a layup for the Tigers and Pegues had a free throw.

Wilkerson had a jumper at 13:48 to cut the lead to seven before a Hill jumper at 11:59 returned the lead to nine as the Texans had scored a basket since the 18:16-mark. Hill had a jumper at 11:59 before Wilkerson hit four straight free throws, two sets sandwiching Hill’s sixth three.

Pegues then had two bonus shots at 8:12 before he got a rebound on a fastbreak and slammed the ball home. A technical foul was then called on the ECU bench, and Hill went to the line and sunk both bonus throws to make it 53-39 with 7:58 on the clock.

Figgs had two free throws 10 seconds later before he put the ball in on a layup. Wilkerson then cut the lead to eight with two free throws prior to another Figgs layup. The Tiger then hit a jump shot to cut the lead to 53-49 with 5:33 on the clock. Eric Williams had a free throw at 5:08 before he had a jumper at 4:24 to put the ball in the hoop for the first time since and it was the first Texan bucket since 9:48.

Adams had a free throw for the Tigers before Hill hit a jumper at 2:21 to make it an eight-point lead. Cody Williams then got a layup with 1:20 on the clock to make it 58-52. Cloudy then hit his first three of the game with 48 seconds left to give the Texans a 61-52 lead.

At the 37.9-second mark, Adams had a free throw for the Tigers. Then, with 22.9 on the clock, Hill was fouled to stop the game, and the Texan senior hit the backend of the two shot foul. With 13.94 remaining, Cloudy was called for a foul on Figgs, and the Tiger hit both free throws to close the game with the Texans winning, 62-56.

Also scoring in double figures for the Texans was Pegues with 11 points while Eric Williams led the team with 12 rebounds.

Tarleton averaged .556 from the charity stripe (10-18).

ECU was led by Figgs with 16 points while Wilkerson (13) and Cody Williams (10) finished with double digits. Wilkerson’s 11 rebounds topped the team on Saturday.

The Tigers shot .352 from the field, .250 from the arc and .778 from the stripe.

Tarleton will return to action on Monday, Jan. 5 at home against Southeastern Oklahoma at 8 p.m. when the Texans will also host $1 admission and the Dallas Mavericks’ Mavs Man.


Source: tarletonsports.com